Court rules Ieng Thirith, Pol Pot's sister-in-law, is unfit to stand trial
Ieng Thirith, Pol Pot's sister-in-law and one of the few regime members to face punishment, is unfit to stand trial, war crimes court rules
Cambodia's war crimes court yesterday ordered the release of Ieng Thirith, dubbed the "First Lady" of the murderous Khmer Rouge, saying the elderly sister-in-law of regime leader Pol Pot was unfit to stand trial.
The UN-backed tribunal said there was "no prospect that the accused can stand trial in the foreseeable future", handing a bitter blow to survivors of the 1975-1979 regime which has been blamed for the deaths of up to two million people.
Ieng Thirith, 80, ex-social affairs minister, was one of only a handful of people brought before a court for atrocities during the Khmer Rouge era.
The accused "suffers from a progressive, degenerative illness [likely to be Alzheimer's disease]", the court statement read, adding "that she remains unfit to stand trial".
She was accused of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity and the court said her impending release was "not a finding on the guilt or innocence" nor did it withdraw the charges against her.
Three other ageing top former regime leaders - including her husband, former foreign minister Ieng Sary - remain on trial.
The case, the tribunal's second and most important, is seen as vital to healing wounds in the still-traumatised nation, but campaigners have voiced dismay at the slow progress of proceedings given the advanced age of the defendants.
